Fasteners are used to secure a multitude of different components and materials together for a variety of applications including, but not limited to, assembling and securing manufacturing components, connecting building materials such as metal, polymer, plastic or wood, and the use of fasteners for attachment to biological materials such as bone and/or soft tissue during medical treatment procedures. In many cases, fasteners can include a generally cylindrical body having an external thread (i.e., a thread-based fastener or “screw”), in which a generally cylindrical screw body is formed separate from an associated driving or fixating tool (i.e., a “driver”), with the driver removed from the screw once the securing operation is completed (and the screw is left behind in the construct or work piece). There is a constantly increasing number and variety of applications for the use of screw-based fasteners, but one consistent need encountered in many applications is a desired for the driver to temporarily “hold,” center and/or otherwise retain and/or secure the fastener (i.e., to the driver) prior to and/or during the securing operation into the particular material and/or structure, yet which allows the driver to be quickly and easily removed from the fastener once the connection operation is completed. This is especially true where the driver requires two hands to manipulate and/or operate, where it may be advantageous for an individual to use one hand for the driver and the other to hold the work piece accepting the fastener, and where a dropped and/or lost screw can cause unintended damage and/or long term consequences (i.e., during a medical procedure and/or during aircraft engine repair).
In the biomedical field, an increasing number of applications are being developed which involve the use of mechanical fastener constructs that are surgically implanted to allow the body to mend or be reconstructed (i.e., temporarily and/or permanently). Such applications can include fasteners used with spinal constructs and disk replacements, plates used for long bone repair from the femur to the metacarpals, and even soft tissue repairs such as tendon and ligamentoplasty, as well as bladder and hernia repair. In many instances, a surgeon may only have a single hand free to operate the driver (or the surgical field may not allow for more than a single hand and/or the driver tip to penetrate the patient and/or the surgical field). Moreover, a fastener that unintentionally dislodges or otherwise “drops” into a wound can cause significant damage to the patient as well as potentially become “lost” within the wound—often with long term consequences for the patient.
There are many orthopedic surgical and dental procedures in which a fastener is implanted to hold bone in a certain position and/or to provide an anchor for a dental or other prosthetic or implant. In small bone surgery (e.g., below the elbow and ankle), the available fastener products are typically scaled-down versions of larger fasteners used for larger bones, and these versions are often not adequate for the fine bones and delicate procedures required of the small bone surgeon. In particular, the small bones are often fine and have minimal surface area for placement of an implant, and typically less mass for placement of a screw-type fastener. In addition, there is usually minimal soft tissue in the regions to “cover” and/or cushion an implant. These factors tend to make small bone surgery particularly tedious and unforgiving. Consequently, it is desirable to have surgical tools for small bone surgery that provide assistance in holding, centering and/or implanting the delicate screw that are used in this areas of the body—especially where the design allows fewer “hands” to be involved in the procedure and does not significantly increase the dimensions and/or “profile” of the screw head.